Eagles ranked, shunned

Dusty Sloan Published: June 27, 2006 12:00 AM

By DUSTY SLOANT-G Sports EditorAshland Universitys football team doesnt need much more motivation for the upcoming season, but it got it anyway.In its preseason college football magazine, Street & Smiths has ranked AU 17th in its Top 25 NCAA Division II poll. But another of the annual preseason magazines, Lindys, which didnt have the Eagles nationally ranked, has gotten most of the teams attention.I think there were some people that maybe took it a little personal, and thats good, said third-year AU coach Lee Owens, who guided the Eagles to a 9-2 record last year, including six wins in a row to end 2005. Its incentive to have a great summer. Ive got 84 guys on campus today busting their tail.Ashland opens the season at home Sept. 2 against fourth-ranked Saginaw Valley State, then the Eagles travel to top-ranked Grand Valley State Sept. 9. The Lakers are ranked No. 1 in both the Street & Smiths and Lindys polls, while the Cardinals are ranked second in the Lindys poll and fourth in the Street & Smiths poll.As he has stated before, Owens knows his Eagles will know where they stand right away this season.It seems to me like were still going to be big underdogs those first two weeks (because of the rankings), he said. It comes down to this we need to beat Saginaw Valley and Grand Valley to get that kind of recognition.The opener against SVSU will have a number of backdrops the national rankings, AUs first game on its new synthetic turf surface and the fact the Cardinals made the Division II playoffs last season, and the Eagles didnt.I think theres a lot of significance in that, said Owens. Saginaw took away one of those playoff spots from us last year. They were in last year, we werent.We see this as a playoff game.Owens roster of 144 players will begin fall camp Aug. 9.n Contact Dusty Sloan, sports editor, at 419-281-0581, ext. 244, or dsloan@times-gazette.com.